Vitamin E: the nutrient that helps your immune system

Sep 11, 2022 News

=Health Facts=

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – Vitamin E is a nutrient that’s important to a number of body functions: vision, reproduction, and the health of your blood, brain, and skin. Vitamin E, a potent lipid-soluble antioxidant, found in higher concentrations in immune cells compared to other cells in the blood, is one of the most effective nutrients known to modulate immune function.

The antioxidant properties are substances that might protect your cells against the effects of free radicals — molecules produced when your body breaks down food or is exposed to tobacco smoke and radiation. Free radicals might play a role in heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. If you take Vitamin E for its antioxidant properties, keep in mind that the supplement might not offer the same benefits as naturally occurring antioxidants in food.

Foods rich in Vitamin E include canola oil, olive oil, margarine, almonds, and peanuts. You can also get Vitamin E from meats, dairy, leafy greens, and fortified cereals. Vitamin E is also available as an oral supplement in capsules or drops.

Vitamin E deficiency can cause nerve pain (neuropathy).

The recommended daily amount of Vitamin E for adults is 15 milligrams a day.

Research on Vitamin E use for specific conditions shows Alzheimer’s disease. Some research has shown that high-dose Vitamin E might delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people who have been diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Other studies haven’t shown this benefit. Vitamin E supplements appear to have no effect on whether people with mild cognitive impairment progress to Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies also show that Vitamin E might improve symptoms of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, some evidence suggests that taking oral Vitamin E for this purpose for two years is linked to insulin resistance.

Preeclampsia. Increasing your intake of Vitamin E hasn’t been shown to prevent this pregnancy condition that affects blood pressure.

Prostate cancer. Research shows that Vitamin E and selenium supplements don’t prevent prostate cancer. There is also concern that the use of Vitamin E supplements might increase the risk of prostate cancer.

Most people get enough Vitamin E from a balanced diet. If you’ve been diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, some research suggests that Vitamin E therapy might help slow disease progression.

However, oral use of Vitamin E might increase the risk of prostate cancer. Use of the supplement can pose other serious risks, particularly at high doses and if you have other health conditions or have had a heart attack or stroke.

When taken at appropriate doses, oral use of Vitamin E is generally considered safe. Rarely, oral use of Vitamin E can cause nausea, diarrhoea, and fatigue. Taking higher doses of Vitamin E might increase the risk of side effects. Also, there is concern that people in poor health who take high doses of Vitamin E are at increased risk of death.

Use of Vitamin E can interact with many conditions.

Other research suggests that Vitamin E use might increase the risk of death in people with a severe history of heart diseases, such as heart attack or stroke.

Talk with your doctor before taking Vitamin E if you have a Vitamin K deficiency, an eye condition in which the retina is damaged (retinitis pigmentosa), bleeding disorders, diabetes, a history of a previous heart attack or stroke, head and neck cancer, and liver disease.